Seven Steps to Effective Research

Step 5: Find Web Resources

Finding Resources on the Internet (Using the World Wide Web)

Each site on the Web has an internet address, also known as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The url is inserted in the "Location" box in your browser. Once you identify a site you can use for your research it is important that you record the internet address if you wish to return to that site. Most browsers include the URL as a footer or header on the printout from a site, so printing at least one page from websites you find use during your research is a great strategy. You also need to record the URL if you are preparing a works cited page, as this address is used as a part of the bibliographical citation (see Step 7) needed for your works cited page.

If you do not have a URL for the page you want, you may perform a topic search using a search engine or a metasearch engine. A search engine is a website which is devoted to findingweb pages of the particfular topic you are interested in. If you compare search engines you will find that they each have different features and methods of searching the Web. The one you choose to use is up to you. When using the Web for research it is recommended that you perform your search with more than one different search engine to get as many relevant sources as possible.

Tip: The "Help" button on most search engine sites will give you many pointers to efficiently search that particular site, or look at Search Engine Watch's Search Assistance Features page.

There are basic techniques for searching the Web using search engines. One way is to use the feature of typing in your keywords according to the recommended procedures for the search engine you are using and performing a search on those keywords using Boolean operators, such as "and" to connect keywords. The Internet Navigator tutorial explains this well and also provides several wonderful movie clips demonstrating the various operators.

Another way involves beginning with the list of subjects in a directory. These lists are a more direct way of searching since indexers have already identified specific sites for the indicated subjects.

Tip: If your search topic consists of multiple words, enclose the words in quotation marks when you type them into the search box: "juvenile delinquency" This instructs the computer to search for the words directly next to each other, as a phrase rather than as individual words.

On to Step 6